By Kevin Foley
Ted Nugent was once a marginally talented '70s-era rocker whose following was composed mainly of socially stunted teenaged boys attracted to "The Nuge's" wild child personae and I-don't-give-a-damn attitude.
Today, Nugent continues to trade on an amped up version of his old self, this time as an armed-to-the-teeth far-right bad boy gunning for traitorous and cowardly liberals, Democrats, and PETA members.
Not surprisingly, many of Nugent's fans grew into the ill-informed louts who attended the racially charged 2009 Tea Party rallies to demand their country back from the black president who stole it from them. Nugent giddily jumped into the fray, possibly to recharge his fading career or perhaps because he's just a garden variety bigot.
Maybe both.
During a concert in 2007, Nugent told the audience, "Obama's a piece of s---, and I told him to suck on my machine gun." He also referred to Hillary Clinton as a "worthless bitch," called Senator Dianne Feinstein a "worthless whore," and during concerts shot arrows at projected images of former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat.
This is the sort of nuanced political insight to which Nugent's fans, Sean Hannity and the National Rifle Association flock.
Since then, the camo-clad Nugent, an NRA board member, has characterized supporters of healthcare reform as "pigs," said the Muslim community is "rude and stupid," and demanded jail for anyone who uses the words "gun control."
When asked what he would do if ever elected to public office, the 62-year-old Nugent – a self-proclaimed Christian - declared, "No able-bodied human being would ever get a handout again."
Obviously Nugent is one tough hombre. He doubled down last month in his Washington Times column saying he wants a "voodoo vermin body count" so Americans can see an ROI for their war tax dollars as measured in Taliban corpses.
"The real reason Americans aren't told how many voodoo vermin our military have killed and wounded is that it would not be politically correct," complained Nugent.
But like most gun-toting, flag waving, cowboy hat wearing yahoos, Nugent only talks the talk.
A vocal supporter of the military, Nugent went AWOL in the late 1960s. When he could have been fighting an enemy that shot back in Vietnam, like many well-to-do suburban white boys, Nugent had other priorities. In his case, it was playing guitar for the Amboy Dukes.
But that doesn't make Nugent a coward. It just puts him in the same boat with fellow chickenhawks Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell and the College Republicans.
What makes Nugent gutless is hiding behind his publicist.
When he was asked in July for an e-interview about his controversial public comments by MediaMatters for America's Joe Strupp, Nuge backed away. After seeing a list of Strupp's questions, Nugent's publicist, Ebie McFarland of EB Media PR in Nashville, told the blogger:
"Unfortunately due to the nature of the questions in your e-interview with Ted Nugent, management has declined commentary from our client in an effort to ensure the press surrounding the date is focused on the music and not political statements."
Really? It's all about the music?
The same Ted Nugent who can boldly stand on a stage before thousands and invite everyone in the White House to perform fellatio on him is afraid to discuss his extreme political views and violent rhetoric with an Internet media outlet?
Bullies have a way of backing down when they're punched in the nose so it's now time for Nugent to shut up, stick to fleecing his remaining fans with half assed jams like "Kiss My Glock," and leave politics to the real tough guys.
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Kevin
Foley is president of KEF
Media Associates, an Atlanta-based producer and distributor
of sponsored news content to television and radio media. |